The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

B O O K ;

R E V I E W S

NW JUNE 1993

legislature until, in quick succession, the Lavinia Kerwick rape case and the Kilkenny incest case herded the politicians into minimal action on sentencing. With the passing of the Criminal Justice Act, 1993, the prosecution will enjoy the right to appeal lenient sentences in respect of offences involving violence or sexual misconduct. A recommendation, therefore, made by the Law Reform Commission in its Consultation Paper on Sentencing has already, in effect, been implemented. This constitutes a record in reverse, the normal situation being the complete disregard of Law Reform Commission recommendations, the watering down or the dusting-off of reports after many years of neglect. Judges can often be heard to say that "all cases are different". This is not so. A person found guilty of rape is different from a person found guilty of a serious fraud offence. Within each of psychological make up, regret over the harm done to the victim of the offence, attitude to the charge and prospects for rehabilitation. There is, however, "a bottom line" whereby a rapist would need the most extraordinary circumstances to justify the non- imposition of a custodial sentence whereas a fraudster might not. Those sentences which attract attention by newspapers are unusual. They are used, however, to promote a particular media view which often lacks the mechanism of self-scrutiny. Be that as it may, the list of sentences published in respect of serious sexual offences last summer in the Sunday Tribune , in the wake of the Lavinia Kerwick rape case, indicated a lack of uniformity of approach. It is obvious that were one judge to be given the task of sentencing every offender, broadly similar approaches would become discernible. Where sentencing is split between these offences there is room for variation as to age, background, motivation for the offence,

social services, it is particularly unfor- tunate that this area has been dropped.

Irish Social Services

The publication is firmly in the tradition of social administration and, as such, tends to take an atheoretical approach to its topics. Thus, while the factual development of the social services is explained, there is little attempt to outline theories as to the underlying economic or other forces which affect the development (or lack of development) of such services. It is perhaps unfair to criticise the author for his approach given the introductory nature of this work. Nonetheless, students of social policy and social services will need to be aware that such underlying issues are fundamental to the development of services if they are to obtain more than a misleadingly limited view of Irish social services.

By John Curry, Institute of Public Administration, 199pp, paperback, £7.95. This is the second edition of Mr. Curry's guide to Irish social services which originally appeared in 1980. The author provides an outline of some of the main social services in Ireland, in particular in the areas of income maintenance, housing, education, health and welfare services. This publication provides an excellent and concise guide to the development and scope of these services. It will be of value not only to students of public and social administration but also to all those who require a broad overview of our social services. This is all the more welcome given the comparative dearth of publications on this area in Ireland. There have been considerable developments in most areas of social services since the first edition of this book and Mr. Curry has taken the opportunity to provide a comprehensive account of the main developments including such matters as the reports of the Commission on Social Welfare and the Commission on Health Funding and the recent Green Paper on Education. Some criticisms may be made of the scope of the book. As the author points out in his preface 'some omissions are unavoidable because of the sheer scope of the areas covered'. However, unusu- ally for a second edition, this book is considerably shorter than the first edition. Indeed one entire chapter on EC comparisons has been dropped. Thus, despite the lack of published informa- tion on social services and social policy, the opportunity has not been taken to provide a more comprehensive overview of the situation but rather a less expansive approach has been adopted. Given the importance of EC policies and comparisons in the area of

Mel Cousins

Consultation Paper on Sentencing

Law Reform Commission, 1993, 400pp, paperback, £20.00. It was Carl Gustav Jung who formulated the principle of psychic inertia. The response of a personality towards situations and events will continue to be similar with those in the past unless some event occurs, or some eruption from the sub-conscience intervenes, which brings about a fundamental change in reaction or attitude. In one respect that eruption has occurred within Irish society. Whatever else politicians now fear, they certainly fear the influence of women. Since 1922 an accused person has enjoyed the widest possible access to appellate courts to review both sentence and conviction, whereas the prosecution have enjoyed no rights at all. Scandals and complaints were ignored by the

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